A seven-year-old girl in Russia’s northern town of Syktyvkar has won a lawsuit against the local migration authority that refused to give her a residence permit which would allow her to go to secondary school, the Moskovskiye Novosti reported on Thursday.
Kristina Mezak, who is starting her secondary education on September 1, had gone to court after the Syktyvkar office of the Federal Migration Service refused to give her, along with her mother, a residence permit, which is necessary to be admitted to school, the paper reported.
According to the Moskovskiye Novosti, the girl’s mother had sold their apartment, where they were both registered, several months ago, but failed to register in the new one where they currently reside with the Kristina’s father Eduard. The migration authorities have then introduced a fine (of up to $80) for the defaulted registration and refused to issue a new registration until the fine is paid.
“The migration officials have actually refused to perform their duties. It’s absurd to make such conditions,” Mezak’s lawyer, Vladimir Zubkov said, adding that the Migration Service violated the right for education outlined in the Constitution and in the European Convention on Human Rights.
The court ruled against the Federal Migration Service and ordered it to give a residence permit to the girl and her mother.
Similar bureaucrats’ follies are especially common in the housing and public utilities sector where officials sometimes refuse to provide people with requested documents if they have utilities debts, Mari Sviridova, a lawyer from the consumer rights protection society told the paper.